


so sweet and so real

by mothicalcreatures



Series: everyone is made new [2]
Category: The Musketeers (2014), The Terror (TV 2018)
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, M/M, Oranges, but also not realizing it's a love language, gift giving as a love language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:56:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27152816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mothicalcreatures/pseuds/mothicalcreatures
Summary: “You deserve nothing but good things,” Lucien murmured, kissing Thomas again before pulling back. “I got something for you while I was out today.”Thomas sighed, exasperated but fond, as Lucien knew his reaction would be.“It’s only something very small,” Lucien continued, pulling his satchel onto his lap. He withdrew from his bag a thick cylinder wrapped in brown paper and a single orange.
Relationships: Lucien Grimaud/Thomas Jopson
Series: everyone is made new [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1981924
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	so sweet and so real

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bluebacchus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluebacchus/gifts).



> This started out as unrelated to my first accidental baby acquisition fic, but then @bluebacchus got so attached to little George that I had to make this into a sequel. 
> 
> The title is from "Peel My Orange Every Morning" by Ezra Furman

Winter was in full force and snow was falling heavily as Lucien made his way back to the house he had secured for himself, Thomas, and George in Nantes. In the first month of their time here, Thomas had found a number of families that could have taken in George, but digging had always led to something Lucien didn’t like. They hit their young servants or had hidden illegitimate children or left their children to be more raised by a nanny than their parents. Thomas doted on George like he was his own, and, though Lucien would hardly admit to it, he had grown fond of the boy as well and would not stand for him to be placed in a home where he would be mistreated in any way. They would find a home for him eventually, but for now… for now Lucien found a strange sort of contentment in coming home to Thomas and George, particularly after a long, tiring day of dealing with wealthy merchants and clients who thought themselves too high and mighty.

Christmas had come and gone, mostly unacknowledged. Lucien had gifted Thomas several skeins of soft wool yarn that Thomas had used to make a new blanket for George and new gloves for Lucien. It had been a highly practical gift, which Lucien knew Thomas appreciated, having never been one for frivolities, no matter how much Lucien thought he deserved them. He had acquired such a frivolity for Thomas today, though not so large of one that Thomas wouldn’t accept it.

When he arrived home, Lucien found Thomas sat in front of the fire in the parlor and mending one of his shirts. Next to him, George lay asleep in his bassinet. Something warm settled into his chest at the peacefulness of the scene. It hadn’t been until Thomas that Lucien had ever had reason to settle. He’d had places that he holed up while conducting his business, of course, but he’d never bothered with creature comforts like a proper house, simply dwelling wherever was most convenient instead. Thomas deserved better than that, he deserved every good thing Lucien could provide him.

Lucien stepped forward into the room and Thomas looked up and smiled broadly.

“You’re early,” he said, purposefully soft so as not to wake George. “I wasn’t expecting you home until after we’d gone to bed.”

Lucien crossed the room to join Thomas on the room’s small couch. “The ship has been delayed, so there was little that needed to be done.”

Thomas hummed, leaning down to break the thread with his teeth. He stuck his needle into the pin cushion and then raised the shirt to the light of the fire to examine his work. “This won’t affect the deal will it?” Thomas asked.

“No, everything else is in order, we’re just waiting on the ship.” It was true, everything _was_ in order, it was only that wealthy people didn’t like being told they needed to wait. Lucien could not make the ship come in any faster. However, none of that mattered here. Here in this little house all that mattered was Thomas and their little George.

Thomas nodded and began carefully folding the shirt. “I’ve mended this to the best of my ability, but if you tear it much more, it’s going to be more thread than cloth. It might be wise to get another, or at least get me some fabric and I can make you another. George will be needing some proper clothes soon too, he’s gotten quite big.” 

“Make me a list of what you’ll need and I’ll get you the fabric,” Lucien promised.

Setting the shirt down on the table in front of him, Thomas turned and kissed him softly. “You’re so good to me.”

“You deserve nothing but good things,” Lucien murmured, kissing Thomas again before pulling back. “I got something for you while I was out today.”

Thomas sighed, exasperated but fond, as Lucien knew his reaction would be.

“It’s only something very small,” Lucien continued, pulling his satchel onto his lap. He withdrew from his bag a thick cylinder wrapped in brown paper and a single orange.

Thomas’s eyes went wide, and his eyes flicked from the orange to Lucien’s face and then back down to the orange as Lucien held it out to him.

“Where did you get this?” Thomas asked softly, as he gingerly took the orange from Lucien’s hands, his fingers cradling it like it was something precious.

“I had a shipment come in,” Lucien said. “I figured one would not be missed.” It was rather an understatement, Lucien had first thought of bringing Thomas half a dozen oranges just because he could, but he knew Thomas would have had much more issue with that than just a single orange.

Thomas shook his head. “You are too much.” He nodded toward the package still in Lucien’s hand. “And what’s that?”

Lucien’s lip twitched up in a brief half smile and he held out the parcel. “A loaf of sugar. Thought you could candy the peel, so nothing goes to waste.”

“I thought you said this was a _small_ gift,” Thomas teased.

“I could have brought home two oranges,” Lucien replied. “But I thought you’d consider that too extravagant.”

Thomas laughed and leaned in to kiss Lucien on the cheek. “Thank you. I still think it’s extravagant, but I’ll forgive you if you’ll share it with me.” 

After supper Lucien sat at the kitchen table, minding George and watching as Thomas carefully prepared the orange peel and set it soaking before slicing the orange itself for them to eat. George was sat in Lucien’s lap chewing on his hand, and Thomas wiggled the boy’s hand from his mouth, giving him a slice of orange to hold and chew on instead.

“Are you sure he’s old enough to eat that?” Lucien asked. He really didn’t know when babies were supposed to start eating regular food.

“It’s soft enough for him to chew on even if he doesn’t eat it entirely,” Thomas said, placing the rest of the slices on a plate and setting it down on the table. “Just don’t let him shove the whole thing in his mouth.”

Lucien glanced down at George, who was gnawing rather happily at the end of the orange slice that protruded from his chubby fist. Something tight spooled in his chest. “We should start looking for families to take him in again.”

Thomas joined them at the table, plucking an orange slice from the plate. “Do you have any suggestions that might make it go better than last time?” he asked, biting the slice in half.

Lucien didn’t. He didn’t rightly know what a good family might look like for this child, he only knew what he did not want the child’s family to be like and that list had grown quite long from Thomas’s first round of searching. “No.”

Thomas hummed and popped the rest of the orange slice into his mouth, pausing a moment to lick the juice off his fingers.

“I will keep looking,” Thomas said, as though he had never stopped—though Lucien knew perfectly well he had and was surprised to find he didn’t really care.

He wondered, vaguely, what it might be like if they _didn’t_ find anyone. Thomas would make a good father, he was possessed of a gentle kindness that seemed well suited to the care of a young child, but he had a firm hand when he needed to, which would make him a force to be reckoned with when the child grew older. Still, their lifestyle was not one suited to a child, so Lucien would have to find someone else, even if that someone else could truly only be inferior to Thomas.

“Are you going to candy the peels tonight?” Lucien asked, abruptly cutting off his own line of thought.

Thomas blinked at Lucien’s sudden change of subject, but made no comment on it. “No, the recipe calls for soaking the peels for several days first, so you’ll have to be patient.”

“Ah.” That sort of fancy cooking was well outside of Lucien’s repertoire. It was not something Thomas was the most used to either, but he made following recipes seem like the easiest thing in the world.

“They’ll be all the better for the wait,” Thomas said, picking up another slice of orange. However, instead of eating this one himself, he held it out to Lucien.

When Lucien made no move to take it—his hands were rather full of an infant, after all—Thomas huffed fondly. “I’ll only eat one for every one you eat.”

Lucien sighed and shifted George so that he could comfortably hold the child in his lap with only one arm before reaching out to take the orange slice from Thomas. He shoved the whole slice into his mouth. “Satisfied?”

Thomas grinned and picked up another slice for himself. “Very.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Learn everything you ever wanted to know about oranges in pre-19th century here.](https://books.openedition.org/pcjb/2197?lang=en)
> 
> I took inspiration for the candied orange peel recipe from [this list of medieval orange peel recipes.](http://damealys.medievalcookery.com/CandiedFruitPeel.html)


End file.
